What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body

What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body, Third Edition gives singers and teachers a Body Mapping resource – from anatomy and physiology to body awareness – that helps them discover and correct misconceptions about how their bodies are designed and how they function. This book provides detailed descriptions of the structures and movements necessary for healthy and efficient body awareness, balance, breathing, phonation, resonance, articulation, and gesture. Many voice books focus on the anatomical facts, but leave singers asking, “How can I apply this to my singing?” What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body helps to answer that question, providing practical exercises and detailed illustrations.

For the third edition, the authors have updated and expanded the content throughout the book. Some specific additions include:

Audio and video recordings of the exploratory exercises available on a PluralPlus companion website.

This book provides the technical foundation for singers of all styles. The authors do not espouse a single method or attempt to teach singing techniques or styles. Rather, they describe the movements of singing with accuracy and detail so that singers may experiment on their own and communicate with each other in a common language.

In the words of Lynn Helding, Associate Professor of Practice in Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and author of the “Mindful Voice” column in the Journal of Singing:

“What sets this book apart are the detailed exercises designed to inculcate accurate kinesthesia in singers. This facet of the book is critically important, because it is not sufficient to simply possess ‘declarative’ knowledge of voice physiology. Singers must develop ‘body sense’ on how to marshal all the components of the five systems of the voice (respiration, phonation, resonation, articulation and cognition) to work together to create efficient, artistic singing.”